


Healing hearts

by AliaMael



Series: The fluffiest dragon hoard [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Cuteness overload, Fluff, Other, Reader is neutral as in no gender is ever hinted at, Slice of Life, Teratophilia, You can headcanon Reader as any gender, dragon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-18 00:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19965631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliaMael/pseuds/AliaMael
Summary: You slowly learn to know your new dragon friend. Today you discover a new side of him. (Spoiler: he's still the absolute cutie.)





	Healing hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Wow I can't believe it took me so long to come back to these two cinnamon rolls. But here I am, and here they are! Enjoy ♥

It's been raining since you woke up, and the two sole clients entering your shop were not enough to lift your mood. You've surrounded yourself with your brightest fabrics, but the light is still a bit too gloomy for your taste.

You look at the clock. Just a little over two hours before closing… which means your Special Guest should soon be there. _That_ puts a smile on your face. It's impossible to stay morose when he's around.

He's been coming everyday since you two met. "He", it's the silver dragon, whose true name is impossible to pronounce with a human body, even for him. So he goes by Rafael. You've known him for almost three weeks now and you already have a small section of your brain dedicated to resistance against his puppy-eyes. It's efficient enough. The fact that you still have sewed toys to expose in your shop is proof of that.

Right on time, he enters the room, pitifully soaked and dripping in front of the door with a sheepish expression. You try to roll your eyes, but it's difficult when he paints such a cute image.

"You know umbrellas exist, right?" you ask, only half joking.  
"Yeah but mine broke on the way here… I'm sorry I didn't want to…"

He sighs and waves around him at the growing puddle.

"To transform my shop into a swimming pool, noted," you finish for him. "Don't move, I'll get you a towel."

In the time it takes you to stand up and reach for the towel you stashed behind your fabrics for such occasions, his eyes are already roaming around the room.

"Rafael?"

He blinks, then blushes when he sees you're right in front of him.

"Sorry…"  
"It's ok, I know you can't help it. But I promise I don't change the whole content of the shop daily," you add with a smile.

He manages to get redder at that, and hides in the towel. You leave him battling with his hair and return to your sewing machine. You feel yourself smiling at the regular movement of the needle. Yes, Rafael truly makes any day better.

For the following thirty minutes, the two of you don't talk. He's inspecting each shelf with a focus so intense he probably wouldn't hear you anyway. He's trying to choose which toy he'll try to claim today.

Because resistant to puppy-eyes or not, you just couldn't refuse him totally. So you made a deal: you decide on the number of toys you want to have in your shop everyday (plus a stock around Christmas, you already warned him), and if at the end of the day you have more than this number, between what you sold and what you made, then he can buy the extra plushies.

The fact that this makes him come _everyday_ to check is just a pleasant bonus and not the goal at all.

Oh, who are you kidding? He's putting a light in your life that wasn't there before and you don't want to let it escape.

Like right now, when you take off your eyes from your sewing machine to see him crouched in front of your work table, only his fingers clenched on the table's edge and his eyes visible while he watches you work, fascinated. You reach out to pet him with a smile, and he pouts but half-closes his eyes in bliss. You don't need to see it to know that his dragon tail is out and sweeping the floor behind him in childish glee. You can _hear_ it.

For a dragon, he definitely has something of a cat.

Then the "click" of the door beginning to open makes you look up, and Rafael is instantly on his two feet, his hands behind his back, dignified, all inhuman traits hidden from view.

"Welcome to my shop," you great the potential customer.

It's a woman with tiredness and exasperation battling on her face. With her is a very young child, tears running down his cheeks, a plushie looking like it traveled around the world twice without taking a break clutched tight into his hand.

The woman leaves her umbrella next to the door and drags her child inside.

"Look, Tommy, there are so many plushies to choose from! Better than your old one, isn't it?"  
"No! I want to keep Mathilda!" the boy sobs, something desperate in his voice.

You feel Rafael tensing next to your table. He must be _feeling_ the love Tommy has for his plushie. But does he want to grab it and run, or to…

You eyes him for two seconds and it's enough to understand that he's resisting the impulse to explain in no uncertain terms to the woman that she's gonna let her son keep his toy, end of line. Or maybe he just wants to hit her, you're not exactly sure.

"Mathilda is old and ripped up and missing an eye and almost bald!" the mother tries. "You could have so much cuter! Look, don't you like this dinosaur?"

Tommy only cries harder in answer. Rafael looks stuck halfway between murder and joining in on the crying.

"Excuse me," you intervene politely. "I know this shop sells new toys, but my partner here is an awesome toy doctor. Maybe he could give Mathilda a second youth, what do you tell? Wanna try?"

Rafael sends you a panicked glance before he composes himself to smile at the small boy.

"I promise not to hurt her. Can I see?"

While Rafael works on calming Tommy, you walk around your table to approach the mother.

"I know that's not what you came here for, but if my partner can make Mathilda presentable again, wouldn't it be easier for you?"

She sighs.

"Yeah… I'm tired of trying to keep it in one piece when it only wants to fall apart. And how can I _wash_ it?"  
"Well, I'm pretty sure that won't be a problem anymore if your son lets Rafael have his way."

The woman actually looks hopeful. Rafael, kneeling to be closer to Tommy's height, is gently explaining to him what he would do to his toy if he were alright with it. After a handful of seconds of consideration, Tommy nods solemnly and hands Mathilda to Rafael, who takes her with an obvious care. He throws you a last glance before stepping around the work table as if it was a natural thing for him to do, and start perusing your materials, talking Tommy through his choosing process.

"Your partner is good with children," the mother points.  
"He is, yeah."

It's a new side of him you didn't know yet.

"Planning to get some yourself?" she adds.  
"Wait, what… oh, no, we're not… It's not what you think!" you stammer, feeling yourself blush.  
"Oh, I'm sorry! You said he was your partner, so I thought…"  
"Yeah, as in _work partner_ …!"

There is an awkward silence where you both observe how Rafael begin to cut fabric, still talking to Tommy who now looks fascinated, even if a bit worried.

"You would make a cute couple, though," the woman adds.

You bite your tongue to contain the "I don't need your opinion!" that threatens to escape you. It would be true, but you're not sure you could stay polite enough and she's still a client.

By the time the shop should close, Mathilda looks rejuvenated. She's still obviously the same, even if Tommy accepted the proposed change of color for her dress. Rafael found a match for her eye, made sure both of them were secure, changed her stuffing, repaired or covered every tear… Tommy's smile is bright as the sun, and his mother looks profoundly relieved.

"Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I… I'm glad Tommy gets to be so happy."  
"I'm glad too," Rafael answers.  
"So, how much do I owe you?"

Rafael looks at you, obviously at a loss, and you smoothly take over for him, having already counted how much the materials he used cost and adding his work to the total.

When the clients leave, Tommy waves goodbye to Rafael, who answers with a smile before shrinking on himself as soon as the door closes.

"… you alright?" you ask, suddenly afraid you went too far without warning him beforehand.  
"I… I think. I was _so afraid_ to make things worse!"  
"Rafael. You spend half of your time repairing toys. How could you make it worse?"  
"I don't know! I just didn't want to upset Tommy…"

Your smile is probably far too sappy, but you can't help yourself.

"You were perfect. And now you get to choose three plushies and pay for only two," you add, hoping to cheer him up.

He immediately perks up.

"Three!" he exclaims in joy. "… but why paying only for two?"  
"Well, you worked for me here partner. I can either give you the money you earned, or give you a plushie. And I already now what you'd prefer, so…"

You find yourself crushed into a hug, that you happily return.

Every day with Rafael finds a way to be a good day.


End file.
